When Mike Gordon Phished the Monopole
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Aug. 14—PLATTSBURGH — When Phish picked the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base as the venue for the Clifford Ball, it wasn't flying blind.
Retired SUNY Plattsburgh professor of music Herm Matlock's standout alums included alto saxophonist Dave "The Truth" Grippo of the Burlington-based Dave Grippo Funk Band.
"I had him for four years," Matlock, former jazz ensemble director, said.
LESS THAN SEVEN DEGREES
Before Grippo's appearances with Phish's Giant Country Horns or Cosmic Country Horns, he was a Cardinal familiar with 7 Protection Ave.
Corey Rosoff has been in Monopole's orbit since the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics when he was 19, and he has owned the launch pad for many nascent musical acts since 1990.
"I'm going off memory, " Rosoff said.
"Mike Gordon played here in different configurations, whether it be the Mike Gordon Band. I just know he played here. I can't tell you the name of the band or the name they were running under at the time. To be honest with you, I couldn't even tell you when it was."
GETTING A GRIPP
But Rosoff recalls Grippo performing with Gordon (Phish founding member, bassist), Pure Pressure and the Grippo Funk Quartet/Quintet/Band.
"He played here numerous, numerous times," he said.
"I know I'm dating myself, but Kriff's Furniture Store, the owner, his son was the drummer in the band. I don't know if it's Larry Kriff or Peter Kriff. He (Peter) just passed away, I believe, recently, within the last two years. Dave Grippo was really good friends with my wife. He played quite a bit here. I'm talking 50 times plus over the years. I used to actually have his bands come in and play Homecoming Weekend being that he was alumni. He just played sax on a lot of their (Phish) albums."
Grippo performs on seven Phish releases and four of Trey Anastasio's solo projects.
According to Phish.net:
"He has provided accompaniment to such classic covers as "Satin Doll" and "Blue Bossa" (7/23/88), "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" (10/20/89), "Caravan" and "Donna Lee" (3/9/90). Grippo has also added his talents to many Phish classics, such as "Split Open and Melt" and "Harry Hood" (10/20/89), "Slave to the Traffic Light" and "You Enjoy Myself" (3/9/90), "AC/DC Bag" (5/12/91), "Suzy Greenberg" (4/4/94 and 10/31/96) and "Chalk Dust Torture" (3/18/97). He may be most famous, though, for his inspiring work on "Jesus Just Left Chicago" (see 11/23/91, 10/31/95 and 10/31/96)."
NO SHOW
Rosoff doesn't recall that any of Gordon's Phishmates gigged the Monopole.
"I'm not saying they couldn't have in different configurations when they were young," he said.
"But I do recall specifically advertising Gordon in the band that he was in, that he was here."
During the Clifford Ball, Rosoff was out of town coaching hockey.
"I do remember driving down the Northway and one VW bus after another was passing and heading to Plattsburgh," he said.
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Twitter:@RobinCaudell
